Intermittent electric steering problem

[NJZ4]

2003 Z4 2.5 5 speed manual 150k miles

The steering light comes on intermittently and the steering is very hard to turn. After a minute the steering returns to normal but the yellow steering wheel indicator stays on. the steering only fails at start up, never while driving.

This may or may not be related. I also have an intermittent failure with the right turn signal. The right turn signal will fast flash as if there is a burnt out bulb. There are no bad bulbs and I have switched all the left bulbs with the right side bulbs with no difference. I am guessing it is some sort of poor ground somewhere.

Any suggestions would be helpful.

Thanks

[wdb]

I suppose it could be a steering motor going out, but the early cars also had an issue with steering column binding. As I recall it was not a startup issue but happened when the car was hot and/or in hot weather conditions. Search the site, there should be a lot of references.

[jetrep]

There is a steering angle sensor on the steering column that seems to sometimes go bad or need to be reset. Can't say if that's your issue but it's something to pursue.

[Huz-Z]

[zitko94]

Hey Huz-z, do i understand currectly that this helps with the problem with steering wheel not working for the first 1 minute. I have the same problem as post creator. Tester says that the problem is steering wheel overheating. Thank you for your help